Australian-born, Barcelona resident, Brett Hetherington has kindly shared a chapter from his new book, “The ReMade Parent: Why We Are Losing Our Children & How We Can Get Them Back”. Chapter 5 asks the question, ‘Is Spain a parent’s paradise?’.

If after reading this chapter you’d like to read the whole book you can purchase the Kindle or Paperback version for the current low price of £2.80 and £5.27 respectively.

Spain: A Parent’s Paradise?

Sometimes I’m asked why I am living in Spain.

The short answer is that like many other immigrants I live in Spain because I want to. It took ten years of trying to arrange work here (from outside Europe) but a main reason my partner and I have chosen this country is because we believe it is one of the best places in the world to bring up a young child.

But is there in fact somewhere on the planet that is virtually a paradise for parents, and therefore more likely to be ideal for children too? Is here the place where there is no need to re-make parenting because perfection has already been achieved? Read the rest of this article…

BCN Type in progress

I know, you’re wondering whether this has turned into a site about type after last weeks Barcelona font post. But this one I couldn’t resist.

From the hand of German born, but Spanish influenced, Simón Prades, comes BCN Type. Grungy, futuristic lettering inspired by Barcelona’s famous grid system. Read the rest of this article…

This is a bit of a geeky post but what the hell. I love Barcelona. And I love typography. So what better than a Barcelona font! Read the rest of this article…

I came across this great infographic the other day from the guys at Apartment Barcelona. Unlike most of these kind of things there was actually some stuff I didn’t know! So I thought I’d share it.

Did you know about all these things?

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Barcelona [Infographic]

A contribution from Peter Lavelle, an economist at foreign exchange broker Pure FX, on the currency situation for an independent Catalonia.

What currency would an independent Catalonia use?

Catalonia continues to press for its independence. This past September 11th (the 299th anniversary of the fall of Barcelona, which led to Catalonia’s accession as part of Spain), 1.6 million Catalans linked hands around the region, to draw attention to their cause. Moreover, next year, Catalan president Artur Mas plans a referendum, to see just how much of the Catalan populous favours ceding from Spain.

However, aside from Catalonia’s ongoing struggle, the possibility of its independence raises certain questions. Like, for example, what currency would an independent Catalonia use? Well, that’s what I want to look at here. Read the rest of this article…

One of my favourite writers, Sally, champions the district of El Raval in Barcelona.

Sally at the Barcelo 360 Bar

‘…the district of sinners, crooks and toughs, a maggot hill, a cesspit and cavern, a den of criminals. It is fetishized, endowed with causal powers, apparently destroying all moral and physical life within it… a terrible centre for infection, the pestulant bottom of a sewer, with its smell of sin and affliction. Many of the area’s inhabitants mutated into a subhuman race. Everyone has funereal features, the look of having recently been in hospital, the appearance of death. They don’t eat. They nourish themselves with alcohol, morphine, ether, ‘coke’ and wine’

An Imagined Geography: Ideology, Urban Space, and Protest in the Creation of Barcelona’s ‘Chinatown’ by Chris Ealham, c.1835–1936 Read the rest of this article…

An article from Anthony Turner about his time in Barcelona in the 60’s.

Barcelona (1960), © Burt Glinn

As a young man back in the 60’s, I was inspired to visit Barcelona by Hemingway on reading two of his books; “Death  in the Afternoon” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls”. I drove with my then fiancée (now my wife) down thro’ France, over the Pyrenees and on to Barcelona.

The city had pretty much embraced the “Swinging Sixties” and was then full of young people from the North…. Sweden, Norway, Denmark,Germany… all intent on enjoying the sun and having a good time. The austerity endured in the 50’s was over… young people were flocking in droves to Milan, St Tropez and Barcelona.

We spent much of our time in the Old Town Quarter getting to know the best and cheapest bars, although with an exchange rate of 169 pesetas to the £ we were not doing too badly! We drank local wines and I tried absinthe in an attempt to acquire inspiration of some sort! I understand that Hemingway drank a glass or ten in his favourite bar so the stories go! I believe that although absinthe was never banned in Spain, the Spanish were never much inspired by this drink as were the French for instance. Read the rest of this article…